Predictors of past avian translocation outcomes inform feasibility of future efforts under climate change

Skikne, Sarah A.; Borker, Abraham L.; Terrill, Ryan S.; Zavaleta, Erika S.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108597

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our models failed to find any suitable climate within 150–400 km of the current range, indicating that translocations would need to move the species over large distances, into new environments and the ranges of species to which they have no prior exposure. For an aerial insectivore like the swallow, finding large areas with suitable habitat and temperatures projected to persist long into the future is a challenging prospect [ 62 ]. Possibly the omnivorous bush-crow [ 60 ] could be bred in captivity and released experimentally into candidate sites to increase the chances of success [ 62 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For an aerial insectivore like the swallow, finding large areas with suitable habitat and temperatures projected to persist long into the future is a challenging prospect [ 62 ]. Possibly the omnivorous bush-crow [ 60 ] could be bred in captivity and released experimentally into candidate sites to increase the chances of success [ 62 ]. However, such actions would have to be carefully managed and monitored to avoid any negative impacts on native fauna from releasing a non-native, dietary generalist [ 60 , 63 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Climatic change and extinction risk of two globally threatened Ethiopian endemic bird species

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change is having profound effects on the distributions of species globally. Trait-based assessments predict that specialist and range-restricted species are among those most likely to be at risk of extinction from such changes. Understanding individual species’ responses to climate change is therefore critical for informing conservation planning. We use an established Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) protocol to describe the curious range-restriction of the globally threatened White-tailed Swallow (Hirundo megaensis) to a small area in southern Ethiopia. We find that, across a range of modelling approaches, the distribution of this species is well described by two climatic variables, maximum temperature and dry season precipitation. These same two variables have been previously found to limit the distribution of the unrelated but closely sympatric Ethiopian Bush-crow (Zavattariornis stresemanni). We project the future climatic suitability for both species under a range of climate scenarios and modelling approaches. Both species are at severe risk of extinction within the next half century, as the climate in 68–84% (for the swallow) and 90–100% (for the bush-crow) of their current ranges is predicted to become unsuitable. Intensive conservation measures, such as assisted migration and captive-breeding, may be the only options available to safeguard these two species. Their projected disappearance in the wild offers an opportunity to test the reliability of SDMs for predicting the fate of wild species. Monitoring future changes in the distribution and abundance of the bush-crow is particularly tractable because its nests are conspicuous and visible over large distances.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic change and extinction risk of two globally threatened Ethiopian endemic bird species

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In practice, translocations continue to have high failure rates despite increased awareness of the problem and scientific insight into potential solutions (Bubac et al., 2019 ), and these failures are likely to extend to AM (Peterson & Bode, 2020 ; Skikne et al., 2020 ). Although the expectation of several failures before establishment may not be appealing to some decision makers and stakeholders, there is some precedent in other conservation translocations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a variety of animals and fungi in Australia and New Zealand, managers might release pioneers to test for behaviors and survival following release events (Seddon et al., 2015 ). For bird translocations, individual survival often improves after the first year, possibly because later released birds learn from previously released birds (Skikne et al., 2020 ). Maintenance of the donor population occurs largely by default in cases where relocation occurs through seeds or clonal offshoots because adults would be left in their original location (e.g., forests trees with AM through adjusting seed transfer guidelines and zones and tropical corals where clonal fragments can supply transplants [Rinkevich, 2019 ; Williams & Dumroese, 2013 ]), allowing for larger releases without affecting the fate of the donor population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying robust strategies for assisted migration in a competitive stochastic metacommunity

Backus

Baskett

2021

Conservation Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a very recent study, Skikne et al. (2020) estimated longer translocation distances in birds (median = 105 km), using data from the Avian Reintroduction and Translocation database (Lincoln Park Zoo, 2012), including many translocations from New Zealand and the United States. Interestingly, they showed that the proportion of surviving birds one year after release decreased with longer‐distance translocations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant translocations in Europe and the Mediterranean: Geographical and climatic directions and distances from source to host sites

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although the number of plant translocations has been rapidly increasing for two decades, no study is available to date that examines the directions and distances of plant displacements, which is essential (though not sufficient) information for considering translocations as a management tool to enable species to cope with the consequences of climate change. In this paper, we study the geographical and climatic directions and distances from source to host sites in 638 source‐and‐host site pairs of plant translocations that aimed to achieve viable populations in the last decades in the Western Palearctic (Europe and the Mediterranean). Translocation distances ranged from 0 to 661 km, but were generally short, most (82%) being <25 km, due to both ecological considerations and legal and administrative constraints. The host sites were not preferentially located in any geographical direction or in any altitude relative to the source sites. In contrast, on a climate compass constructed from a principal component analysis of seven bioclimatic variables, the host sites were slightly, but significantly, under colder climatic conditions than the source sites. This observation appears more to be the consequence of an effort to counteract already felt effects of climate change than to anticipate future changes. The climatic distance between source sites and actual host sites was generally smaller than between source sites and randomly selected host sites at a given distance or within a given geographical area, which may be the result of a desire to minimise climatic differences or differences in other ecological factors correlated with climatic differences. Synthesis. This study is the first to compare, geographically and climatically, the source sites of biological material and the host sites in translocations of wild plant species to obtain viable populations. Past translocations in the Western Palearctic are in line with mitigating the consequences of global warming on plant species because the host sites were in slightly cooler conditions than the source sites. Despite this, climate considerations seem to have little been taken into account in plant translocation projects and will certainly have to be much more so in a future with rapid anthropogenic climate change.

show abstract

Predictors of past avian translocation outcomes inform feasibility of future efforts under climate change

Cited by 15 publications

References 35 publications

Climatic change and extinction risk of two globally threatened Ethiopian endemic bird species

Climatic change and extinction risk of two globally threatened Ethiopian endemic bird species

Identifying robust strategies for assisted migration in a competitive stochastic metacommunity

Plant translocations in Europe and the Mediterranean: Geographical and climatic directions and distances from source to host sites

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About